September 2004

ikom Ultima Build

Welcom to visit my home

	Preparing for the build

	April 2004

	May 2004

	June 2004

	July 2004

	August 2004

	September 2004

	October 2004

	November 2004

	June 2005

	July 2005

	August 2005

	September/October 2005

	November 2005


The summer is over and the ULTIMA build progresses ever so slowly

September 2004

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Title	Additional Wiring
Description	Saturday 4 September 2004 I decided to re-acquaint myself with the loom today - it is getting cold already and I hear the Canada geese overhead. My house is under their flight path and every Spring and fall, I hear them either coming North or leaving for better climes down South. We see big "V" formations above us and this flight traffic continues almost until the end of September. The earlier traffic appears to come from further up North since they are high up - the later traffic is probably local since it is much lower and sometimes they are just circling to make the correct altitude before their migration. Occasionally several groups will land in the fields across the ravine from me before they assemble into one big group for their flight Southwards. They are an audible and visible precursor of the coming seasons, however, I much prefer their appearance when it signifies the advent of Spring. I like working on the driveway for this reason and the build dolly is wonderful because it not only allows easy access to the chassis for building the GTR but also makes the whole build very mobile; the driveway literally becomes the extended garage. The four additional circuits that I am adding take up most of the day since I started late and I have each circuit on a separate relay and each relay has five wires (and so on): A short description of a relay and its circuits - "Relays are extremely useful when there is a need to control a large amount of current and/or voltage with a small electrical signal." "The relay coil which produces the magnetic field may only consume fractions of a watt of power, while the contacts closed or opened by that magnetic field may be able to conduct hundreds of times that amount of power to a load. In effect, a relay acts as a binary (on or off) amplifier." "The relay's ability to control one electrical signal with another (smaller one) finds useful application in the construction of automobile electrical systems where wiring can be made much smaller to switch large devices." A simple five pin relay has the following circuits: 85 is the relay switching (control) circuit output. 86 is the relay switching (control) circuit input. 30 is the power circuit input. 87 is the power circuit output. 87a is the power circuit output (always on) These together with numerous connections to battery and chassis ground etc. constitute a time consuming and headache provoking crimping and soldering exercise. In any case very boring work. After I complete the wiring connections, I hook up a 12 volt power source and test each circuit and it all works (to my surprise). I will also need to figure out a way of adding a master relay which will be controlled by the ignition switch so the new circuiting will only be alive when the car is on. I decide that I will take care of this at some other time (in the future) since it is late in the day and I have prior plans.
Size	173.16K
Date	Sep,04,2004

Title	More Wiring - New four circuit fuse block
Description	Sunday 5 September 2004 I get up very early and tie up some loose ends on the wiring. My daughter flies out to Vancouver later in the day so I will have lunch with her and the rest of the family before taking her to the airport. I therefore only have a couple of hours to work on the ULTIMA today. The wiring takes precedence and I do as much work as I can before I change and we leave for a late lunch/brunch. We return home help pack her computer and bags and see her off at the airport.
Size	138.52K
Date	Sep,05,2004

Title	Polishing the shift rod linkage
Description	Monday 6 September 2004 - Labour Day I really do not want to look at another electrical wire terminal today so I decide to take care of the gear shift linkage instead. I had deliberately put this task off because all of the parts were in separate boxes - The factory had obviously run out of stock and decided to package some of the linkages and joints as "owed pieces". I attempted to gather everything earlier in the build, but could not find all of the pieces initially so I had put this off until I had time to gather the pieces. The task had slowly slipped into "not pressing" mode however and other portions of the build took precedence. Today is the day for the linkage install though, so I rummage through the remaining boxes and find all of the requisite pieces. My son joins me and we attempt to test fit the linkage. We quickly learn that the linkage rods need to be polished - the zinc chromate coating has to come off if the rods are to travel smoothly through the HEIM joints. We use fabric backed (roll) emery paper (plumbers use this to clean up oxidation on copper piping before it is soldered) on the linkage rods. Once the Heim joints slide smoothly; we polish and finish the rods with metal polish ("AUTOSOL") until they feel glassy smooth to the touch. We very carefully locate the hole in the rear bulkhead cockpit panel through which the linkage will travel to the engine side. I want this hole to have just enough clearance for the linkage to pass through without binding, so we measure and measure again. We also use a makeshift linkage/bushing assembly to mock up the path and eventually mark it for centre punching. Small pilot holes are then drilled and the path checked again to make sure that it will be correct. All of this checking pays off when we finally assemble and trial fit the linkage. The rods fit though the bulkhead without touching the sides of the 20mm holes. I will drill the rods and universal joints on the drill press later in order to insert the roll pins before they are driven in permanently. I also need to confirm with other builders the length of travel required for the linkage rods in order to shift the Porsche G50 transaxle properly. This will help in setting up the optimal rod travel and locations of the HEIM joints. As a final task we once again carefully center the steering rack by rotating it to full lock (in both directions) and halving the 2.4 lock to lock rotational travel. I mark up a piece of painter's tape with accurate lines to designate each 0.2 turn of the steering on the circumference of the steering rod and confirm the centre once again. We do all this so that we can mark up the hub portion of the wheel relative to the splined portion of the rod so that we can have it welded together. All in all, a good productive "Labour Day". We call a halt to the work after supper at about 8.00PM.
Size	206.84K
Date	Sep,06,2004

Title	Polishing the ends of the shift rod linkage
Description	Polishing the ends of the shift rod linkage with fine cloth backed emery paper.
Size	200.96K
Date	Sep,06,2004

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